1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to shopping trolleys which are put at the disposal of customers in self-service stores.
More specifically, the invention is concerned with a trolley of the type comprising on the one hand a carrier platform located at the bottom of the trolley and a complementary carrier element located at the top and consisting of a horizontal basket or tray. The bottom platform is intended to carry bulky merchandise whereas the top basket or tray is designed to carry articles of smaller size. Trolleys of this type are primarily intended to equip stores for the sale of building and construction materials, "do-it-yourself" articles and other equipment of various types.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With a view to providing a greater degree of freedom of use of these trolleys, the upper trolley basket or tray is pivotally mounted on the frame in order to be capable of withdrawing to a vertical position and thus freeing the entire space located above the bottom platform. Guiding of this movable element into its position of withdrawal is performed by means of two vertical guides which extend against the rear uprights of the handle-bar frame and in which are engaged trunnions carried by the sides of the movable element, the horizontal axis of pivotal displacement of this element being defined by said trunnions.
Moreover, trolleys of this type are so arranged as to be capable of interengagement when they are stored for subsequent use. However, this interengagement is possible only if the upper basket or tray of all the trolleys has first been placed in its vertical position of withdrawal. However this constitutes a highly inconvenient requirement.
Furthermore, when the carrier element provided at the top of a trolley consists of a basket, the depth of interengagement of trolleys is relatively limited. This is due to the fact that, in the vertical position of withdrawal, each basket projects to the rear of the handle-bar frame of the corresponding trolley over a distance corresponding approximately to its depth. Here again, this is an objectionable drawback since the overall bulk of a waiting line of trolleys is greater than in the case of conventional shopping trolleys of the fixed-basket type.
It is for this reason that the aim of the invention is to construct shopping trolleys of the type considered which are provided with a pivoting top basket but so designed as to circumvent the drawbacks set forth in the foregoing. To this end, the design of these trolleys is such that, in their vertical position of withdrawal, the pivoting baskets do not limit the depth of engagement of trolleys. However, the trolley design is also such that these latter can be engaged within one another even when their carrier baskets are left in the horizontal position of use.